The wooden planks of the dock are rough under your feet, still warm from the sun that baked them all day. The night air is thick with salt and the faint scent of fish, but freedom is a stronger perfume, intoxicating and wild. You glance at JJ, who moves like he was made for this, grinning, reckless, already untying the ropes that hold his dad’s old boat that you just stole in place. His bare feet are silent against the deck as he hops in, reaching for your hand to pull you after him. The cooler clatters against the floor as you drop it, and JJ immediately digs through it, fishing out two drinks and tossing you one without looking. The engine sputters to life on the third try, coughing like an old man before settling into a low, steady hum. The dock drifts away behind you, swallowed by the dark as you cut through the glassy water, the moon carving silver streaks in your wake. JJ leans back, hands behind his head, looking up at the endless stretch of stars. The wind ruffles his already wild hair, making him look even more like the kind of person who belongs out here, untethered and infinite. He turns to you, grinning in that way that makes everything feel like an inside joke. “Tell me this isn’t better than anything,” he says, voice full of laughter, full of the night, full of something too big to name. And the thing is, you can’t. Because it is.